Welcome to Saint John the Baptist Orthodox Church!

By the grace of God we have been serving the Wyoming Valley since 1907. For more than a century, we have been able to offer the people of this area the same faith, worship, and love of God that the apostles shared on the day of Pentecost more than 2000 years ago.

We are part of the worldwide Orthodox Church – the oldest Christian Church in the world. This is not a theological statement, it is an historical one. We are precisely the same Church across the globe, and across time, preaching the Gospel, teaching the Lord’s commandments, and worshiping God in spirit and in Truth just as we have these many centuries. In fact, our newest service is 1,300 years old!

And in every part of the world, there are Orthodox Christians, Churches and missions: in traditionally Orthodox countries like Russia, Greece, Romania, Serbia, the Middle East, and India but also in Japan, China, the Philippines, throughout Europe including Germany, France, Poland, Finland, across the British Isles, throughout the African continent including Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, across Central and South America, and at the North and South poles. Many of the visitors and members of our Church come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. Our experience is that expectations vary widely (and sometimes wildly!), so this page will get you started!

We welcome visitors at all of our services. This page contains some basic information about our parish and Orthodox worship for those who haven’t experienced it yet.

To start with, we want you to know at least this much:

• You are welcome here. We are always honored to have visitors join us for prayer and worship.

• You won’t be asked to do anything which would make you uncomfortable.

• We don’t expect visitors to contribute anything to the financial support of our parish or our programs.

• Our children worship with us. If you have young children, they are welcome here, too. If you need to step to the back of the Church with your child for any reason, you are not disturbing us.

• We expect Christian children to be raised in the Church and to do that, they have to be in the Church.

• If you need any assistance at all, please let us know. We are here to be of service to you.

If you are an Orthodox Christian, and you have prepared yourself to receive Holy Communion according to your Spiritual Father’s direction, be sure to introduce yourself to our priest before the service. You are welcome to approach the chalice.